30 
THE POULTEY BOOK. 
As a still stronger proof that this sound is respiratory, I found that by placing 
the ear or the stethoscope against the breast or back of the chick the day after it 
was hatched, precisely the same sound was heard, proving incontestably that it is 
caused by the transmission of air through the lungs. It is, indeed, nothing more 
than the natural respiratory sound in the lungs of the young chick.” 
Having devoted so much space to the consideration of the structure of the egg, 
it may be desirable to make a practical application of the knowledge, and describe 
the best method of keeping eggs, both for culinary and hatching purposes. When 
exposed to the air an egg soon loses its original freshness, in consequence of the 
escape of part of its moisture, and the consequent entrance of air. This evil may 
be prevented in several modes. One of the least troublesome is to grease the sur- 
face of fresh eggs intended for cooking, and so close the pores. It is not very 
material what grease is employed, provided it is fresh and sweet. Butter is, perhaps, 
the least desirable, as it contains curdy matter, which becomes tainted after long 
exposure to the air. Lard, or melted suet, is better, and in France melted bees’- 
wax and olive oil is sometimes employed, and answers remarkably well. Another 
mode of preventing the access of air is to plunge the eggs into a thin creamy 
mixture of freshly slaked lime and water, in which they will keep good, for pastry 
purposes, for many months. 
Eggs intended for hatching should be kept in a situation where the evaporation 
of moisture through the pores of the shell is prevented as much as possible. 
Placing them with the larger end upwards in a box, with bran, is a very common 
mode of keeping choice eggs intended for hatching. If the eggs are to be kept 
any length of time the position is a good one, as the presence of the air-vesicle and 
chalazae prevents the germ rising to the top and adhering to the membrane of the 
shell. The extreme care sometimes bestowed on eggs intended for incubation, 
however, is quite unnecessary. The yolk is so perfectly suspended that no injury can 
occur to it by any violence likely to be suffered by the egg, short of actual breakage. 
Eggs have been hatched in England that were laid in America, the vibration and 
shaking to which they have been submitted on the voyage not having injured the 
vitality of the delicate germ. Nor can a uniformity of temperature be considered 
requisite : no other eggs hatch so well as those laid by the hen in a nest hidden in 
some hedge or coppice ; these are necessarily exposed to great alternations of tem- 
perature prior to the hen’s becoming broody, — alternations arising from the dif- 
ferences of the heat of day and night, and from the hen warming up the whole 
batch on laying every additional egg. 
We believe that by keeping the eggs covered so as to prevent the loss of the 
internal moisture by evaporation we have done all that is requisite in ordinary 
cases. Should we be desirous of keeping eggs an unusual time, we think that the 
employment of air-tight jars perhaps offers the best mode of proceeding. Those 
with patent air-tight stoppers, sold by Messrs. Crook, of Carnaby Street, are 
eminently adapted for this purpose. 
With regard to the transport of eggs intended for hatching, there is no plan so 
